Common Names – Very Many Names

Sweden sits between Norway and Finland, squarely within the Scandinavian region. It consists of several tidal cities and island communities that are connected via bridges. Generally, Sweden's climate is very cool. Swedish names are names that are typical found in Sweden. In Swedish, the first names precede the surname or surnames. First names are also called baptismal names and one or more are used as first names. The most common name for women in Sweden is Anna and for men it is Lars. Much of Swedish culture and history is based around fishing, exploration, and self-sustainability. Consequently, the Swedish people are known for their humility and peaceful policies. Below you will find lists of some of the most common female, male and last names in Sweden. Common Swedish Names Common Names in Sweden About 10 million people live in Sweden, so naturally some first names are bound to get repeated. The most common first names among Swedish citizens include Anna for women and Lars for men. Generally, the most common Swedish names among the people in Sweden are: Anna Eva Maria Karin Kristina Lars Mikael Anders Johan Erik See complete lists below: Top 100 Swedish Male Names and Top 100 Swedish Female Names Many of these names come from Hebrew names or words, though some come from Latin and Greek first names or titles. As such, it's not a stretch to say that Sweden's most common names show signs of significant and long-term Western influence. For example, the massive population of Annas and Mikaels would not be possible had it not been for the Christianization of Scandinavia and the spread of the Latin alphabet. Still, it is somewhat surprising to see such old influences continuing to hold sway today, especially given that many Nordic nations are fervently proud of their history and paganistic pasts. To understand Sweden's truly Nordic names, you may need to dig deep into its cultural emergence. Some of the oldest Swedish names, for example, include phrases that are now extinct in the modern Swedish language. Old Names in Sweden Old Swedish descended from a subtype of Old Norse, and there are tons of Old Swedish names that display this Nordic connection. Let's explore some examples of Old Swedish names that aren't as popular nowadays as they were in ancient times. For example, three Old Swedish names that are worth a second look include: Afridh Hjälm Järl The third name, Järl, was the title given to royal patriarchs in Sweden during medieval times. As a first name, it probably didn't enter into existence until well into the 14th century. That's because Swedish royalty was still using this title up until the late 1200s. When the last Swedish Järl died in 1266, Swedish families may have started to covertly name their sons Järl in honor of the extinct Nordic royal namesake. Read: Old Norse Names Female Names in Sweden Some trends continue to hold, including the name 'Anna' for females. It's currently the most common name for women and girls in Sweden, and it's also a popular Swedish baby name for female infants. The five most common female names in Sweden are: Anna Eva Maria Karin Kristina Anna, the most common female name in Sweden, has Greek and Hebrew origins. It most nearly means "grace" or "beauty." Eva also has Hebrew origins and is often anglicized or Latinized to Eve. Maria is another form of Mary and yet another name with Hebrew beginnings. Overall, Karin might be the most Nordic of all these feminine names. That's a bit sad, especially when you consider that Karin comes from Katherine, a name with Greek origins. Still, Western names seem to have been popular in Sweden for many years now. Read: Most popular baby girl names Male Names in Sweden When tracking the changes in naming trends in a specific country, it's crucial to observe all types of names. Interestingly, Sweden seems to have seen a difference in boys' names over the last several years. While Lars and Mikael have been longtime favorites of the Swedish population, Lucas and Liam are quickly giving those more common names a run for their money. The most popular boys' names in Sweden (in descending order of popularity) are: Lucas Liam/William Elias Noah Hugo None of these names have distinctly Nordic origins, which may change how future generations view Sweden and common Swedish names. Generally, most of these names are derived from Hebrew names and words as well as Latin names and expressions. The name William comes from various cultures and languages, including Proto-Germanic, Old French, and Old English. Out of all the above boys' names, Hugo may have the closest ties to Old Norse. It is an old Germanic name meaning "mind". Read: Most popular baby boy names Last Names in Sweden Like many other Nordic countries, Sweden has a history of using a patronymic naming system. This means that children were given unique surnames that were based on their father's first name as well as their gender. For example, a Nordic man named Erik that had a son might name that child Agmunðr (roughly meaning "hand of terror"), but the child's full name would be Agmunðr Eriksson. If Erik's child were a girl, the surname would become Eriksdotter. In the 1800s, Sweden's tradition of patronymic naming ended. Families generally decided to adopt a singular family name. Curiously, these families unanimously opted for the masculine patronymic versions of their names, resulting in virtually zero Swedish surnames ending with "dotter". Still, due to this commonality, we can easily measure and address the most common Swedish surnames, which are: Andersson Johansson Karlsson Nilsson Eriksson Etc. See complete list below. You can use these surnames' widespread nature to gauge previous naming trends, as each one of these last names corresponds to a time with patronymic naming reigned. For example, the prevalence of the surname Andersson says that the first name Anders was prevalent in the past. 100 Most Common Swedish Female Names RankFemale NamesCount 1Anna100 259 2Eva85 432 3Maria85 164 4Karin65 183 5Sara58 174 6Kristina57 931 7Lena56 854 8Emma50 854 9Kerstin48 029 10Marie41 077 11Malin40 433 12Ingrid40 398 13Jenny39 837 14Hanna38 446 15Linda38 313 16Annika38 271 17Susanne37 627 18Elin37 619 19Monica37 256 20Birgitta37 172 21Sofia35 382 22Johanna34 334 23Inger34 319 24Carina32 867 25Elisabeth31 884 26Julia31 450 27Ulla30 588 28Katarina29 519 29Linnéa29 512 30Emelie28 883 31Ida28 803 32Helena27 559 33Camilla27 218 34Åsa27 047 35Anette27 027 36Sandra26 244 37Gunilla25 740 38Anita25 340 39Maja25 048 40Marianne24 963 41Margareta24 866 42Amanda24 545 43Anneli24 451 44Therese24 173 45Ann24 117 46Josefin23 878 47Cecilia23 502 48Jessica23 326 49Helen23 123 50Lisa22 316 51Matilda21 985 52Caroline21 955 53Alice21 792 54Frida21 778 55Ulrika21 457 56Elsa21 343 57Barbro21 049 58Siv20 391 59Rebecca19 400 60Madeleine19 386 61Klara19 172 62Ebba19 102 63Sofie18 400 64Isabelle17 994 65Agneta17 987 66Gun17 686 67Wilma17 422 68Lina17 349 69Berit17 311 70Pia16 993 71Ella16 707 72Ellen16 099 73Yvonne15 960 74Louise15 906 75Astrid15 860 76Moa15 662 77Olivia15 654 78Nathalie15 479 79Mona15 473 80Agnes15 341 81Emilia15 340 82Alexandra15 310 83Alva15 277 84Britt15 237 85Erika15 216 86Viktoria15 215 87Ann-Christin14 971 88Felicia14 669 89Ann-Marie13 951 90Sonja13 291 91Britt-Marie13 208 92Pernilla13 177 93Lovisa13 074 94Charlotte12 757 95Linn12 635 96Gunnel12 547 97Nina12 397 98Mikaela12 224 99Karolina12 209 100Lisbeth12 165SCB: March 2021 100 Most Common Swedish Male Names RankMale NamesCount 1Lars83 396 2Mikael79 760 3Anders76 856 4Johan74 652 5Erik65 824 6Per64 294 7Peter62 207 8Karl60 784 9Thomas60 712 10Jan58 242 11Daniel57 654 12Fredrik54 569 13Andreas45 564 14Hans45 278 15Stefan44 942 16Mohamed44 825 17Mats43 011 18Marcus42 860 19Mattias41 894 20Magnus41 667 21Jonas41 057 22Oskar40 856 23Alexander40 473 24Niklas39 774 25Bengt39 684 26Martin39 183 27Bo37 713 28Nils36 223 29Viktor35 501 30Patrik35 343 31Björn34 767 32David33 372 33Leif33 128 34Filip32 924 35Henrik32 793 36Joakim32 350 37Emil32 013 38Christer31 862 39Ulf31 597 40Sven31 355 41Simon31 121 42Christoffer29 709 43Anton28 776 44Gustav27 928 45Robert27 893 46Christian27 732 47William27 729 48Tommy27 549 49Kjell26 880 50Lucas26 753 51Rickard25 937 52Håkan25 526 53Adam24 701 54Göran24 681 55Jakob23 619 56Jonathan23 410 57Rolf23 345 58Lennart23 127 59Robin23 073 60Sebastian23 016 61Elias22 619 62Tobias22 241 63John21 357 64Stig20 837 65Axel20 536 66Linus20 046 67Oliver19 720 68Kent19 363 69Hugo19 044 70Isak18 738 71Roger18 601 72Jesper17 527 73Claes17 378 74Albin17 084 75Ludvig16 540 76Jörgen16 434 77Rasmus16 420 78Max16 008 79Ali15 999 80Jimmy15 798 81Kenneth15 452 82Joel15 363 83Gunnar14 854 84Dennis14 747 85Josef14 690 86Johnny14 512 87Olle14 105 88Liam14 096 89Leo13 836 90Olof13 814 91Pontus13 367 92Åke13 345 93Kurt12 990 94Kevin12 976 95Samuel12 812 96Edvin12 405 97Gabriel12 394 98Torbjörn12 380 99Arvid12 371 100Felix12 255Source: SCB, 2020: Most common Male Names 100 Most Common Swedish Last Names RankLast NameCount 1Andersson224 669 2Johansson223 196 3Karlsson199 027 4Nilsson153 251 5Eriksson134 683 6Larsson113 096 7Olsson101 961 8Persson96 344 9Svensson90 221 10Gustafsson88 272 11Pettersson85 760 12Jonsson67 432 13Jansson45 179 14Hansson39 948 15Bengtsson31 214 16Jönsson28 379 17Lindberg26 935 18Jakobsson25 435 19Magnusson24 850 20Olofsson24 216 21Lindström24 158 22Lindqvist22 324 23Lindgren22 052 24Berg21 453 25Axelsson21 445 26Bergström20 594 27Lundberg20 504 28Lind20 284 29Lundgren19 847 30Lundqvist19 512 31Mattsson18 749 32Berglund18 535 33Fredriksson17 511 34Sandberg17 300 35Henriksson16 735 36Forsberg16 237 37Sjöberg16 099 38Ali15 969 39Wallin15 806 40Mohamed15 639 41Engström15 224 42Eklund14 974 43Danielsson14 708 44Lundin14 647 45Håkansson14 350 46Björk14 086 47Bergman14 012 48Gunnarsson13 913 49Holm13 790 50Wikström13 702 51Samuelsson13 522 52Isaksson13 376 53Fransson13 258 54Bergqvist13 162 55Nyström12 956 56Holmberg12 818 57Arvidsson12 705 58Löfgren12 555 59Söderberg12 357 60Nyberg12 282 61Blomqvist12 157 62Claesson11 949 63Nordström11 887 64Ahmed11 768 65Mårtensson11 578 66Lundström11 419 67Hassan11 267 68Viklund11 226 69Björklund11 140 70Eliasson11 107 71Pålsson10 984 72Berggren10 968 73Sandström10 632 74Lund10 502 75Nordin10 483 76Ström10 211 77Åberg10 191 78Falk10 103 79Ekström10 079 80Hermansson10 064 81Holmgren9 865 82Hellström9 739 83Dahlberg9 732 84Hedlund9 696 85Sundberg9 593 86Sjögren9 586 87Ek9 447 88Blom9 396 89Abrahamsson9 223 90Martinsson9 201 91Öberg9 192 92Andreasson8 942 93Strömberg8 866 94Månsson8 839 95Hansen8 656 96Åkesson8 638 97Dahl8 568 98Lindholm8 536 99Norberg8 514 100Holmqvist8 473Source: SCB, by March 2021: Most Common Last Names Read: Most popular Swedish baby boy and baby girl names Summary of Swedish Names Today, many of the Swedish Names in existence came to Sweden during the period of Christianity or have a rich tradition from centuries ago. The most common Swedish name for a female is Anna and for a male it is Lars. The most common Last Name in Sweden is Andersson.